7 Greatest Video Game Urban Legends

We all have heard of them, swore to have done them or know someone whose cousin has. That’s right, I’m talking about Video Game Urban Legends (VGUL). No, I’m not going to talk about the munchkin in the back of “Wizard of Oz” who supposedly hangs himself from the tree. Not also talking about how their is a ghost in the window in “3 Men and a Baby” who died in that house. Not Bigfoot or Loch Ness. I’m talking Video Games…. I’m talking Urban Legends in Video Games.

I have searched high and low to bring to you, our latest installment of these Urban Legends, and finish up with a wide known but not seen VGUL.

Tomb Raider

The Urban Legend – Lara Croft appearing Nude in Tomb Raider

The System – PSone

This story goes as far back as the game was first launched. It was almost like every video gamer wished this one to be true. I’ve heard it all from, “if you go in the water, you’ll see her nude”. Sorry to tell you folks, this one is a big fat lie.

Street Fighter II

The Urban Legend – Beat every character without losing a round or match let’s you play as the four bosses Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison

The System – SNES

Well, this is an urban Legend that I believe all Street Fighter 2 players have tried. Now, while it isn’t that impossible, is was very hard. The rumor of playing as one of the bosses, went cross country. It always seemed that the more you went unbeaten the tougher the opponent got. I recall playing one whole day trying this one out, and after going unbeaten straight through Balrog, Vega became impossible. He would hang off the fence and “huaaahhh” with his blades onto my head. Of course, I used Ken and the timing of a shyruken was hard.

No doubt, once I completed the game unbeaten I realized it was a hoax. With people then saying “You have to perfect every round” back I went to the SNES and 15 years later…

Playstation 2

The Urban Legend – Iraq had purchased 4,000 PS2’s to launch missiles.

The System – PS2

World Net Daily claims that both the FBI and the US Customs Service are investigating the transfer of thousands of consoles to Iraq. According to a secret Defence Intelligence Agency report, 4,000 PS2s had been bought in the US and shipped to Iraq in 2000.

Some US military experts believe that several PS2s could be linked together to form a “supercomputer”, which could control a missile or an unmanned aircraft. They fear that the console, which contains a 128-bit CPU, could provide the power for Iraq to launch chemical weapons at its enemies.

It’s also very unlikely that bundling any number of PS2s together would actually work, as it would be extremely complicated to have a number of processors accessing shared memory and splitting up the computation. The complex software required would take years to develop. Sony refused to say whether it was possible to link PS2s together to form a supercomputer, explaining that it did not comment on speculative stories.

Super Mario Bros.

The Urban Legend – Jumping over the flag pole at the end of the level

The System – NES

In 5th grade, Kevin Diley once told me how he jumped over the flagpole in Super Mario Bros. I’ve called him on the telephone while I tried, he came over to try, I even asked him to video tape it on his VHS camcorder. He was never able to reproduce it. Till this day, I do not know a single person who was able to jump over the flagpole. I’ve heard of mods, and hacks that allow this. But until I see this:

Cartridge being blown into the bottom

Popped into an original NES

Original NES controller used to jump over flagpole

This will not hold true to me and Kevin Diley will continue to be a liar!

Legend of Zelda

The Urban Legend – There is a dungeon level in the Legend of Zelda that is a swastika.

The System – NES

Now although this is not completly an urban legend, it is more of a terrible version of the game telephone. It starts off with one person saying what they say, and it gets turned and twisted into an Urban Legend. So, let me explain. The third dungeon has the shape of what appears to Western audiences as a left-facing swastika. This shape is actually a “manji”, which is a Buddhist symbol of good fortune. In Japan, where this game was initially released, swastikas and similar shapes are relatively benign, which explains why a symbol so offensive to many Western audiences could be included. In the United States, there were surprisingly few complaints about the manji, but years later, when Pokémon became popular in the United States, Nintendo was forced to alter one of the cards due to complaints regarding a manji.

So take a chill pill, it’s just some Manji – Word of the Day.

Mortal Kombat

The Urban Legend – A code that enabled the “Blood Code” instead of a grey smokey splat

The System – SNES

This one is fairly easy to explain because it never existed nor was it an Easter Egg. Nintendo was/is very censored so they never allowed blood in their Mortal Kombat game. It was said that the Genesis version of MK sold better because of the fatalities and blood. Nintendo then tried using Genesis’ decision of incorporating blood as a negative, but that never flew. So now you had those Genesis freaks soaked up to their ankles in Hawaiian Punch and it was cool.

Polybius

The Urban Legend – A government run arcade cabinet was used to collect data. Once played this game would cause seizures, memory loss and people were brainwashed.

The System – Arcade

This game was out for a very short trial run of one month in small arcades in Portland Oregon in 1981. Produced by the company Sinnesloschen ( A German term meaning “sense-deleting,” or “Loss of senses.”), the game gave many players nightmares and many who played it completely swore off all video games afterwards. Others complained of having blackouts and memory loss. Employees of the manufacturer, in black coats came and collected data from the machines as part of a lease agreement. After only one month, all of the machines were removed. ROM’s of this game are rumored to be in the hands of some collectors but at this time they are not generally available. Check out more info here at Polybius Theory.

Game-play: There are two explainations for game-play.

1: Action/Puzzle game. Rumored to have a rotating 3D Puzzle, along with logic puzzles, and mazes resembling the playing style of Pac-Man.

2: You were flying through a tunnel and had to dodge things in your path. Lights flashing at rapid rates to heighten the effect. Said to resemble a pro-type for Atari’s “Tempest.” (Which was a shooter game. In an article about Tempest, it was said that the prototype caused motion sickness after a period of time.) The basis of the game was to get through a maze without being caught in a trap or a mine. Apparently, the further the levels went, to make the game more difficult, the background would start flashing much like a strobe light, and the spinning of the mazes.

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16 thoughts on “7 Greatest Video Game Urban Legends”

It’s actually possible to jump over flagpole. There are videos on youtube, I’ve seen it live, the easiest way is to do it on the map in which you jump off a scale-like platform. It’s also possible on regular “stairs” platform too, check out youtube.

The Polybius thing is so intriguing to me–I noticed on Youtube they have some simulations of it–I could not watch these for more than a few seconds without feeling totally sick to my stomach–no wonder why people went “insane” after playing this game! Here’s a link to the one I watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpGXEEa1c5I

Its definitely possible to jump over the flag-pole. Though I haven’t seen the videos on youtube (laziness) that prot mentions, I have myself jumped over the flagpole a few times around 10 years ago. Prot is right, it is done on the 3-3 map, where you jump of the scale…
Would be happy to create a vid for youtube, if you like…

I had a Game Genie, and there were codes for super high jumps, or super long jumps, and I was able to jump over the flagpole and the castle. It sucked though, because you could just keep running and running and running and never get anywhere. And of course, you couldn’t go back, so you just had to shut down the game and do the whole level over. Yeah, we weren’t too happy the first time we did that.

yeah, my brother jumped the flagpole on the original NES when we were playing. The first commenter was right. After the initial amazement, it just got real boring. You’re hoping you’re in some warp world or bizarro universe but it’s really just a no-man’s land with nothing to do.
We tried to do it again but couldn’t replicate it either.

World 3-3 and it’s easy because of those scales, just time it right. There’s a couple more things you can do. To reverse the effects of the red/yellow mushroom, as “big” Mario, touch Koopa and the switch to the bridge at the same time. That one is kinda tough though. There’s also a way to get a stupid amount of lives. Trap an enemy (that you can bounce off) against a ledge and keep jumping on top of them. For certain reasons I can’t understand though, if you get a certain amount, it will be instant game over once you die. One more thing I remember from playing that game a million times in 1990 and then more recent on Ultra FCE (and yes, I own the cart so it’s legit!) is the ability to trap yourself in one of the water levels. I know it happens at the end of the level, I just can’t remember how and it’s kinda pointless because it’s not like something strange happens after, you just hafta beat the level all over again on your way to completing the game.

With Mario out of the way and proving that Kevin Diley did it (or at least he knew it could be done), lemme talk about the other ones. There is a patch for Lara Croft to be in the buff (one of the comments mentions it) but it’s stupid and even the horniest Lara fan-boy wouldn’t be aroused after five minutes. Real women are better even if they can’t hold a candle to what Lara might actually look like, if she were real. Enough of that though. I remember that SFII “trick” as a kid. I had the better Genesis version though, so playing as Bison or Balrog was no sweat. Sorry SNES people who tried that. I never assumed it was real, but kids say they do it and it gets stupid from there. The story about Saddam seems untrue post-Operation:Iraqi Freedom and that one about Zelda is true but manji is the smartest explanation of that ever. Hitler got the whole idea for the swastika when his cultural people went to the East to learn about the Aryans.

Mortal Kombat’s blood code for SNES wasn’t even the tip of the iceburg for Mortal Kombat’s myths. I remember when the home versions came out hearing the never-ending tales of nudity codes (how bad did I wanna see Sonya naked as a . . . I think it was third grade) and there was also a way to make Liu Kang masterbate (at least on the Genesis version) by getting out of his fatality and jumping onto the fallen enemy. I know that seems a little far fetched but that one I heard long after I first heard that to be possible.

Last is Polybius. I don’t know what to make of this, but I think that the U. S. Government and other governments cover up things all the time so why can’t this be possible? I’m not one of those conspiracy guys or Area 51 guys or any of those whackos but why is it unthinkable that the government wouldn’t do something like this? I just wish I were alive and coherent back in 1981, oh and a Portland arcade goer.

That’s it for me. Hope you enjoy my take as much as I enjoyed typing it.